Coverings for architectural openings such as windows, doors, archways and the like have assumed numerous forms for many years. Early forms of such coverings consisted primarily of fabric draped across the architectural opening, and in many instances the fabric was not movable between extended and retracted positions relative to the opening.
Retractable coverings for architectural openings have evolved into many different forms, which include roller shades in which a piece of flexible material can be extended from a wrapped condition on a roller to an extended position across the architectural opening, and vice versa. Other popular forms of retractable coverings for an architectural opening include Venetian blinds, vertical blinds, cellular shades and various variations on these basic designs.
Typically, current manufacturing equipment and methods for making window coverings have not proven sufficient to handle more than one material flowing co-extensively, with the insertion of one or more lateral components for operable assembly of all components to allow relative movement between at least two of the assembled parts.
Additionally, typically a unique machine and method are designed for each different design of window coverings. This creates undesirable expenses, increases the risk of significant capital investment in an unsuccessful product, and leads to lengthy start-up times for manufacturing new products. Research and development efforts are also thwarted at least in part due to the lack of flexibility in easily modifying existing manufacturing equipment to build new designs.
It is to satisfy the need for flexible manufacturing equipment designs and associated methods that the present invention has been developed.